A Grammar of Neo-Aramaic: The Dialect of the Jews of Arbel

Geoffrey Khan

Brill Academic Publishers, 1999 - Architecture - 586 pages

Being direct descendants of the Aramaic spoken by the Jews in antiquity, the still spoken Jewish Neo-Aramaic dialects of Kurdistan deserve special and vivid interest. Geoffrey Khan's A Grammar of Neo-Aramaic is a unique record of one of these dialects, now on the verge of extinction.
This volume, the result of extensive fieldwork, contains a description of the dialect spoken by the Jews from the region of Arbel (Iraqi Kurdistan), together with a transcription of recorded texts and a glossary.
The grammar consists of sections on phonology, morphology and syntax, preceded by an introductory chapter examining the position of this dialect in relation to the other known Neo-Aramaic dialects. The transcribed texts record folktales and accounts of customs, traditions and experiences of the Jews of Kurdistan.

About the author

Geoffrey Khan, Ph.D. (1984) in Semitic Languages, School of Oriental and African Studies, London University, is currently lecturer in Hebrew and Aramaic at the University of Cambridge, England and is a Fellow of the British Academy. He has published widely on Semitic linguistics and medieval philology.

Bibliographic information

• Title: A Grammar of Neo-Aramaic: The Dialect of the Jews of Arbel; Volume 47 of Handbook of Oriental Studies / 1: Der Nahe und der Mittlere Osten; Volume 47 of Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1 the near and Middle East Series; Handbuch der Orientalistik Series; Handbuch der Orientalistik: Nahe und der Mittlere Osten, ISSN 0169-9423
• Author: Geoffrey Khan
• Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers, 1999
• ISBN: 9004115102, 9789004115101
• Length: 586 pages
• Subjects: Architecture / Interior Design / General; Foreign Language Study / Arabic; Foreign Language Study / General; History / Ancient / General